Osprey

I wanted to be a roadkill specialist

Growing up I had a nature collection with skulls, rocks, feathers, and bones that I would show my elementary school companions. I have since become a volunteer at the Burke Museum of Natural History. If my college-self were to give my elementary-self a tour of the Burke Museum, I would assuredly faint with excitement. When I grew up I wanted to be a road kill specialist just so I could collect dead animals(really...my mom took me to the facility where they handle road kill and dead zoo animals). Now I am doing just that, but through the scope of science. The Burke Museum has cabinets upon cabinets of carefully labeled specimens: full of color and scientific beauty. I think it is remarkable that I have become my own idol from age 6!

The osprey, or bone crusher, was the first bird I prepared. A graduate student in one of my labs was showing me how to build a mount specimen to study crows and how they react to a piscivores (fish eating Osprey) versus carnivores (crow eating Red-tailed Hawk). Prepare is a euphemism for skinning; this process is involved, detail oriented, with a huge learning curve. Let me humble myself real quick and tell you that others took to the art of skinning much more readily than I did! In total I have prepared over 60 bird specimens for the Burke.

I also have gone on two collecting trips with the Burke. Now collect is another euphemism, but I'll let you figure that one (hint: it involves a shotgun).